Founder Profile
Edward Temple
Last reviewed: September 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Background
Edward Temple possessed an incredibly rigorous, deeply resilient background in mass-market regional banking, complex financial risk assessment, and early American mutual insurance logistics. Operating as a fiercely respected cashier at the Chariton Bank in Iowa, this intensely practical foundation in rural financial management provided the exact strategic leverage required to successfully pioneer the incredibly massive Bankers Life Association.
Founding Story
Edward Temple was an absolutely brilliant American financial pioneer, fiercely ambitious corporate executive, and the profoundly influential founding patriarch fundamentally responsible for architecting the massive Principal Financial Group empire. Operating as an incredibly dedicated banker in Iowa, Temple aggressively recognized the massive, highly heartbreaking financial vulnerability of local farmers and bank employees who possessed absolutely no life insurance. In 1879, he relentlessly launched the Bankers Life Association as an incredibly innovative, low-cost mutual assessment association designed specifically to protect regional bankers. By fiercely prioritizing massive financial conservatism and incredibly strict underwriting standards, his absolutely rigorous corporate leadership completely revolutionized regional life insurance. His massive strategic execution permanently established the historic bedrock for the multi-billion dollar Principal Financial monopoly.